SC slams ‘inaction’ of political parties on exclusion of voters

The Supreme Court on Friday expressed dismay at the “inaction” of political parties in Bihar over the exclusion of nearly 6.5 million voters from draft electoral rolls, ordering the 12 recognised parties in the state to instruct their booth-level agents (BLAs) and party workers to actively assist excluded voters in filing claims and objections.

- Utkarsh Anand

A bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said it was “surprised” that despite appointing over 1.6 lakh BLAs, parties had filed only two objections since the draft rolls were published. “We are surprised at the inaction of political parties. What have they done after appointing BLAs? Why is there a distance between workers of political parties and voters? They know these people well,” the bench remarked.